Changes in HK population by district: Hong Kong Island down 7% on average, while Sham Shui Po is up 7%. Probably gives a good picture of who’s emigrated. But why would the population of Sham Shui Po go up so much? Is this purely internal migration? Where are the extra people there living? Perhaps SSP housing supply has increased.
Speaking of which – housing prices rise for second consecutive month. Still down year-on-year, and probably a post Covid/CNY bump. Or… maybe Hong Kong is in an economics parallel universe, where the lower the population gets, the more expensive the apartments become. (An alternative view: ‘the main property-market theme for this year is destocking’.)
More parallel universe logic: we must cram more tourists into Hong Kong to create jobs, and build more white-elephant projects to accommodate a growing population – therefore we must import labour because of a shortage of workers.
I know that if I was a goldman sachs intern grad and had spent my summers learning bond and yield curves, and how to package CDS and liquid securities in a black box market, the first thing I would do is head for Hong Kong to lead Disney tours.
And they can use Penny’s Bay to house those construction workers.
Just need to remove air-conditioning to match conditions of our newfound saudi friends.
Population increase in SS Po is probably a result of creeping gentrification and URA decanting the plebs programme. The western section has been almost completely redeveloped into high rise towers with twee names and some green-wash on the exterior. The noose is closing in on the core street market zone.
This isn’t the first time that Sham Shui Po has experienced an increase in population. I believe that there was huge population increase there in WW2, but not from gentrification, but by incarceration instead. In the 1980s, the old POW camp site was still visible.
Pokfulam also experienced a population increase in the 1960s by political arrests and incarceration in The Zoo on Victoria Road. It now an extension of The University of Chicago.
Where are all the 141 girls in SSP to go?? Or are they the non local “logistics” workers??
Asking for a friend…
Is it possible for HK’s government policymakers to be any more out of touch with the average HK citizen or any further up the backsides of the soulless losers who occupy the towering heights of corporate greed and believe they are some kind of business geniuses because they occupy the inside track in a rigged system?
I think we should be told.
Parts of SSP are quite easy on the eye these days. Chic coffee shops, crafty (overpriced) ale bars, retro barbers and hot young lovelies in yoga pants jogging with the poodle.
Hope to see Mary joining them soon. Heavenly.
@stanley lieber – Errrrhhh yeah. Plenty
As regards the property market, I think the new game in town is remortgaging to buy overseas. That avoids the mishap of those who sold up and cleared off to Canada in the eighties, only to be later shafted by the booming HK property when they tried to come back. Hence the moribund, yet expensive HK property market.
If your flat is already paid off, as with many middle class Hongkongers, you will likely have an HSBC relationship manager breathing down your neck asking you to borrow. On a modest flat of about HK12 million, you might be able to take out HK$3-4 million depending on salary etc.
If you want to buy in the UK where the pound is still cheap, that’s a reasonable middle class home outside London and the south-east – barring a few expensive market towns. Double that figure, and you can get a pretty good flat in London; well at least it’ll be bigger than in HK.
It also makes no sense to trade down in HK because of all the taxes and the lack of liquidity.
Re: Din Din, chic coffee shops, yoga pants and yappy dogs, pass. I head for the heaving gritty interior.
One piece of good news is that Garden Bakery heard the people sing and instead of demolishing it unique and legitimately landmark and iconic building has almost completed a renovation. The white and red facade stands out as a pure joy in the midst of encroaching grey curtain walls.